AmaReina

We arrived in Vilshofen, Germany mid-afternoon to board the ship. We were all looking forward to the next phase of this trip.

This is the AmaReina and our room was on the third floor at the back of the ship. We had a balcony door that could be opened but we had to sit inside our room and put our feet up on the railing. We were ok with that as it was very comfortable and beautiful. On the very hot days, it was nice to be inside with the air conditioning and still have the view all around us.

It had all the amenities you could possibly want, even a pool with jets on one end for relaxation. The sundeck was above our room so it was a quick journey to go up and sit and watch the scenery.

In the main dining room, there were tables for two or four people. There were also two areas for groups of ten. We tried to grab one of these each night so we could be together with our friends.

The food was so very good and beautifully presented. Dinners were four courses each night with at least two choices in each category. They also had a choice of vegetarian meals as well. Each night there was a special cocktail (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) for the cocktail hour and there was a special selection of red and white wine for dinner. Wow, it was all so very good. We had to be careful.

Zin was our waiter and he was so fun, and very funny. Around the table is Keith, me, Julie, Sherie, Bill, Mum, Jodi, Kelly, Phil. The fun laughter was because Zin turned the camera on himself to be included in the group picture. He was great!

The front third of the upper floor was like a giant living room, with couches, chairs, small tables. It was very inviting and relaxing. There was also a ‘snack' area in the middle with a bar for anything you wanted or needed. Downstairs, directly below this was the main dining room. It was very elegant and comfortable as well.

Each morning we received the itenerary of the day with excursions info. We were told this was a very active cruise line and that was very true. We were so pleased. There was biking, walking, hiking, and touring events each day. The walking tours were geared to the more active, but they also had “gentle walkers" tours. We signed up for our activities prior to arriving on the boat so everything was ready each day. It was very well organized with lots of options, and if you needed to skip one, or wanted to change, you could easily change.

Often times we were cruising in the morning with events in the afternoon, but sometimes there were events all day long and you could do as many as you liked. We loved the morning cruise so we could see the country side and then have activities in the afternoon. It was perfect until it got to hot. Then we wanted morning events while it was somewhat cool.

One thing we really enjoyed was traveling through all the locks. There were twelve on our trip, but some we passed through during the night. Because we have these at home and have traversed through them, we were familar with the process, but it was unique to watch such a large boat. Some folks with us had never seen this process before so it was fun to watch their excitement and enthusiasm.